Meet The New Guy (Belatedly): Pablo Reyes

Who is he and where did he come from?

He’s Pablo Reyes, a 29-year-old career minor leaguer acquired from the Oakland A’s in exchange for cash, and, after just 5 games, he is now the Red Sox ALL TIME LEADER IN BWAR AMONGST PLAYERS NAMED PABLO!!

What position does he play?

All of them! While he’s a middle infielder by trade, he’s also played 36 games at third, at least 10 games in every outfield position, and, oh yeah, he’s an incredibly fun blowout relief pitcher:

Is he any good?

Well, if you’d only ever seen these five games that he’s played for the Sox, you’d say he’s one the best players in all of baseball. He already has 8 hits, 3 doubles, and a 4-RBI game, and he’s been flashing the leather at three different infield positions.

But if you recall, I referred to him above as a “career minor leaguer,” so don’t start naming your pets after him just yet. While he’s always had a well-regarded glove (though not an elite one) Reyes has never been able to hit at the Major League level, nor has he ever been projected to hit at the Major League level. He’s a tiny dude with only average bat speed and little power. Aside from a nice little 18-game sample when he was a rookie with the Pirates in 2018, the only semi-decent stretch he’s had in the bigs came in 2021, when he slashed .256/.333/.359 with 1 homer in 59 games for the Brewers. More recently, he’s spent most of 2023 with Oakland’s AAA team, where he showed so little power that his slugging percentage was actually lower than his on-base percentage (.351 and .385, respectively.) But hey, that .385 mark isn’t bad, is it! His career AAA line is a perfectly cromulent .273/.342/.440. If he could do something like that in the Majors, he could get a regular job somewhere. But he hasn’t been able to do that and, thus, the Red Sox are his third organization in as many years.

What’s he doing in his picture up there?

Trying to flag down the hot dog vendor, before someone reminded him that he’s back in the Major Leagues, where they’ll bring you food right to your seat in the dugout.

Show me a cool highlight.

You’ve already seen him do a bunch of cool highlight-worthy stuff! My personal favorite was this leaping snag at short, because there’s just something amazing about watching little guys get up this high:

What’s his role on the 2023 Red Sox?

He wasn’t even supposed to be on the 2023 Red Sox! But now that he’s here and playing well, expect him to get a lot of game time as long as his bat stays hot and the middle infield remains in shambles. Eventually, he’s going to come back to Earth, while guys like Christian Arroyo, Trevor Story, and Adalberto Mondesi return from injury. At that point, the Pablo Reyes Era will come to an end. But for now, enjoy it while it lasts.